Refrigerator



c. MANSHEL 2,136,558

REFRIGERATOR Filed Sept. 20, 1935 2 Sheets-Shem l v INV ENT OR. czar-zwjfo aeg.

ATTORNEY.

Nov. 15, 1938. c, M E 2,136,558

REFRIGERATOR Filed Sept. 20, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEY.

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A PATENT OIFFI asrmcsnsron Charles Manshel,

East Orange, N. 1.

Application September 20, 1935, Serial No. 41,367

2 Claims.

This invention relates'to improvements in refrigerators, and especially to domestic refrigerators equipped with a mechanical refrigerating system; and the invention has reference, more particularly, to a novel improved form of door for such refrigerators adapted to provide auxiliary supporting means for articles and materials desired to be stored within the refrigerator.

It has been heretofore known to provide article inward side of domestic refrigerator doors, but in such arrangements access to the shelves or racks so disposed could only be attained by swinging open the door with consequent wasteful escape of cold air from the main interior or chamber of the refrigerator and a resultant undesired rise of temperature within said interior or chamber.

It is an object of the instant invention to provide a novel structure for closing the main interior or chamber of a refrigerator which is arranged toprovide auxiliary supporting means for articles and materials desired to be stored within the refrigerator, but which is further provided with means, manipulatable at will, to give access to such auxiliary supporting means without necessity for opening the main refrigerator door per se. I

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel means for normally communicating cold air to and around the auxiliary supporting means, together with means to automatically cut off such communication when such auixiliary supporting means are opened to access from the exterior of the main door, whereby escape of cold air. from the refrigerator interior' with undesired rise of temperaturetherein is successfully avoided.

Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated, will be understood from the following detailed description of the same.

Illustrative'embodiments of this invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l'is an outer face view or front elevation of a refrigerator equipped with the novel door structure according to this invention; Fig. 2 is an inner face view of said novel door structure; and Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view, taken on line 3'3 in Fig. 1, but drawn on an enlarged scale. v

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary outer face view or front elevation of a refrigerator equipped with a modifled arrangement of the novel door structure; and Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view and material supporting shelves or racks upon thethereof, talien on line 5-5 in Fig. 4, but drawn on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary outer face view or front elevation of a refrigerator equipped with another modified form of the novel door structure; and Fig. 7 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view thereof, taken on line 1-1 in Fig. 6, but drawn on an enlarged scale, the means giving access to the auxiliary support being shown in open condition. Fig. 8 isa fragmentary vertical section of still another modified form of the novel door structure according to this invention. Similar characters of reference are employed in all of the hereinabove described views, to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawings, the reference character l0 indicates the main body or housing of a refrigerator which is provided in' its front wall with a main door opening il giving access to the interior chamber i2 of the body or housing. Lo-' cated within the interior chamber 12 is a suitable cooling unit i3 of a mechanism refrigerating system. Also arranged in suitable disposition within the body or housing interior 12 are a plurality of shelves M for the support of articles and materials desired to be stored within the rerefrigerator. It will be understood that the detail construction of the refrigerator body or housing may be in accordance with known standard practices, whereby desired heat insulating construction and effects are attained.

Supported on the front wall of the refrigerator body or housing in, by suitable hinges i5, is a main or primary door member l6 adapted to normally fit into the door opening'i I, thereby to close the interior chamber l2 of said body or housing. Cooperative latch means ll, of any convenient known form, is provided to hold the door member l6, closed. Around its periphery the door mem-, ber I6 is provided with a rabbet flange Hi to break the joint between the door member and the marginal portions IQ of the body or housing door opening ii. Preferably the inner or abutting face of said rabbet flange i8 is provided with a gasket strip 20 suitably secured thereto, and adapted to seal the joint between the door member and marginal portions of thedoor opening when the former is closed. At its interior side the door member is provided with a plurality of recesses 2 I which are covered by a suitably attached back-plate 22, so as to be partitioned by the latter from the interior chamber I! of the refrigerator housing. In Fig. 3 of the drawings three recesses 2| are shown, it will be understood however that, according to the size or capacity of the door memopening the access openings 23 is arranged in auxiliary or secondary doors 24;

the form of outwardly opening vertical swing each being bounded around its periphery with an externally projecting rabbet flange 25 to cooperate with the internal rabbet flange 23' of the access opening served thereby so as to form a break joint. Preferably the inner abutting face of the rabbet flange 25 of each secondary door 24 is provided with a gasket strip 28 suitably secured thereto, and adapted to seal the break joints when said secondary doors are closed. Each secondary door 24 is pivotally connected at its bottom-margin to the main or primary refrigerator door member l3 by suitable hinge elements 21; and each secondary door is releasably held in normal closed position by any suitable form of manipulatable latch means 23, which is mounted adjacent to its upper free edge and which is provided with an operating handle-29. Each latch means 28 is adapted to cooperate with a fixed latch piece 30 mounted on the main or primary refrigerator door member l6. Suitably aflixed to the inner face of each secondary door 24 is a shelf or tray 3| for the support of articles or material desired to be deposited within the recesses 2|. The backplate 22 of the main or primary door member i6 is provided with openings 32 respectively providing communication between the recesses 2| and the interior chamber H of the refrigerator body or housing I. Cooperative with each said opening 32 isa closure plate 33 which is pivotally connected by spring hinge members 34 to the back-plate 22 so as to close the opening 32, while nevertheless being yieldable to opening movement toward the interior chamber |2 of the refrigerator body or housing Hi. It is preferable to provide a sealing gasket 35 around each opening 32, which gasket is engageable by the closure plate 33 when in closed position, to thereby effect a tight Joint. Fixed on the recess facing side of each closure plate 33 is a projecting push-piece 33. When a secondary door 24 is closed, the shelf or tray 3| carried thereby will strike the push-piece 33 and thus impart an opening move-' ment to the closure plate 33, thus opening communication between the interior chamber 2 of the refrigerator body or housing Ill and the recess 2| served by the thus closed secondary door Under these circumstances cold air from the interior of the refrigerator is admitted to said recess 2| for circulation therein and around the articles or materials supported therein by the shelf or tray 3|. when, however, it is desired to gain access to the articles or materials, and to such end the secondary door 24 is opened and swung outward, the shelf or tray 3| is carried away from the push-piece 33 by the opening movement of the secondary door 24, and consequently the spring hinge members 34 will press the closure plate 33 into closed relation to the back-plate opening 32, thereby cutting 011 communication between the thus outwardly opening recess 2| and the interior of the refrigerator, so

that cold air from the latter cannot escape and be replaced by warm exterior air resulting in wasteful and undesired rise of temperature within the main interior of the refrigerator. From the above it will be apparentthat each of the plurality of recesses with which the primary door member l6 of the refrigerator is provided is subject to selective individual access from the exterior of the refrigerator, without disturbing 'refrigeration conditions in either the other recesses or the main interior of the refrigerator.

The secondary doors 24 may be modified for operation in manner other than the above described vertical swinging arrangement thereof. For example, the secondary doors 24 may be arranged for movement in the manner of horizontally sliding drawers, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5. When so arranged, telescoping sliding extension brackets 31 may be utilized in place of hinges, and a latching means 38 adapted for top and bottom latching effect may be employed to hold the doors 24 in normally closed relation to the main orprimary refrigerator door member it. In other respects the construction is substantially the same as already above described. As a further example of possible variation in the manner of mounting the secondary doors 24, thereis shown in Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings, an arrangement providing for horizontal swinging movement thereof. In such arrangement, hinge elements 39 connect one vertical end of the secondary door 24 to the main or primary refrigerator door l6, and cooperative latching means 40 are provided at the opposite or free vertical end of the so arranged secondary door.

Referring to Fig. 8 of the drawings, there is shown therein a modified arrangement of means for automatically opening and closing communication between a recess 2| of the primary door member I 6 and the main interior of the refrigerator when a secondary door 24 is manipulated. In this modified arrangement, the back-plate 22 on the primary door member I6 is omitted, but pivotally suspended from the free side of the shelf or tray 3| carried by the secondary door 24, by means of hinge elements 4| is a closure plate 42. In operation, when the secondary door 24 (which is of the vertical swing type) is swung open, the pivotally suspended closure plate 42 is carried upwardly and inwardly into the recess 2| until it abuts the marginal portions of the rabbet flange 24 surrounding the access opening 23. thus closing the latter against escape of cold air from or entrance of warm air into the main interior of the refrigerator, all as shown by broken lines in said Fig. 8 of the drawings. Preferably a sealing gasket 43 is provided around the access opening 23 to be engaged by the abutting closure plate 42, to thereby form a tight joint when the latter is closed over said access opening 23.

It will be obvious that many changes, other than thoseabove suggested, could be made in the above described constructions, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof as defined by the following claims. It is therefore intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted asillustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having described my invention. I claim:-'

1. In a refrigerator comprising a housing providing an interior chamber having a door opening leading thereinto, a primary door member movable to open and close said door opening, said. primary door member having a recessed portionat its inner side, means to partition said recessed portion from the interior chamber of said re secondary door movable to open and close said access opening, means afllxed to the inner side of. said secondary door to support material within said recessed portion, a spring-actuated closure plate to close said communication opening when said secondary door is opened, said closure plate having a projecting push-piece engageable by said supporting means when the latter is positioned by the closed secondary door within said recessed portion whereby said closure plate is opened when said secondary door is closed.

2. In a refrigerator comprising a housingproviding an interior chamber having a door opening leading thereinto, a primary door member mov- 3 able to open and close said door opening, said primary door member having a plurality of segregated recessed portions at its inner side for storing material at the inner side of said'door,

*m'eans to partition saidrecessed portions from the interior chamberof said refrigerator housing, said partitioning means having openings respectively communicating between said recessed portions and said interior chamber of the reirig-' erator housing, said primary door member'having exterior access openings corresponding to said recessed portions, independently manipulatable secondary doors cooperative with said access openings, means aiflxed to said secondary doors to support material within the corresponding recessed portions, a spring-actuated closure plate for the communication opening of each recessed portion toclose said opening when the corresponding secondary door-is opened, each closure plate having a projecting push-piece for opening the same engageable by the material supporting means carried by a corresponding secondary door when the latter is closed.

CHARLES MANSHEL. 

